Art Direction - Projects

29/08/19 - 28/11/19
Azmina Fathima Haris (0337113)
Art Direction
Projects

INSTRUCTIONS



LECTURES 

Week 1

For our first class, we were briefed about the module and then we were decided into groups of three and I was teamed up with Zoe and Yu Hui for our group work this semester. First, we were asked to give a presentation on art direction in different aspects of design and we were to do it on new media -



For next week's class, we were asked to find out more about RPGs (Role Playing Games) as that would be our concentration for the final project.

Week 2

This week, we had to find out more about the leadership role art directors take and the traits of leadership. Below is our presentation -



As for our project, we were asked to look in to what genre and kind of RPG we would like to with and we were tasked with creating an art bible. Mr. Kannan explained to us in detail, what would be included in an art bible and why it's important in art direction.

PROJECTS

Week 3

For this week, we had to pitch our game idea to Mr. Kannan and Ms. Anis. We had to include game references as well references for the visuals in our game. We had to think about the elements of the game itself, like the character, environment and also the goals and progression of the game. Considering all of this we had to create a proposal that would be suitable for our target market.

Week 5 - 11

Over the following weeks, we worked on refining the game proposal into something more concrete that could be considered a proper pitch deck. We also had to track our project development on Trello, a collaborative project management tool. We learnt more about priority lists and how to divide all the tasks by priority - what is considered most essential to the game and its proper functioning, to what the game could do without. Below is our Trello group board, including separate task lists for character design and other divided tasks.
Trello group board

Updated game proposal with character design and more finishing touches to the UI and graphic design. We were given a sample art bible so could refer to it and understand what to include.

Week 14 

We had a few more things to add to the art bible before we could finalise things. We were reminded that we only had to include only the final work for everything, so only the final character design and environment rather than the drafts or sketches.

Final pitch deck -


FEEDBACK

Week 1
Mr. Kannan and Ms. Anis felt our presentation was thorough and said we did a good job overall.

Week 2
Our lecturers said we did a fairly good job and managed to cover the most important topics.  

Week 3 
Mr. Kannan said our art direction is clear and we should just refer to the sample we were given to get a better understanding.

Week 14
Before submitting the final art bible, we were asked to add a few more things to make it clearer. Ms. Anis suggested making a complete mockup for each of the screens rather using only the wireframes. We were also reminded once again about what we should include in the final pitch deck.

REFLECTION

Week 1
Art direction has always been a vague term to me and I alway though that the role taken by senior designers in organisations (depending on their size) were more fluid and that they shared responsibilities and did not have clearcut roles. However, it was interesting to know the differences between an art director, creative director and a graphic designer or artist. It was also rather eye-opening for our team, who were all of different specialisations but new media, to learn more about the design and work that goes into creating a final outcome, from different levels of designers in the hierarchy of an organisation.

Week 2
This week's presentation was also a fairly interesting topic but was more generic in nature as the role leaders play in every organisation is more or less the same. Art directors as leaders included what I expected from a lead designer overseeing a project but they played more roles as that of a motivator and also in guiding artists and designers working on the project to meet the client's requirements.
Nevertheless, we were able to do a fairly good job and I felt we were already comfortable working together as a team, despite having never done so before.